Dem
47
GOP
53
Last week, in this space, we talked about how Olivia Nuzzi's book was a flop. This week, how about we discuss how the podcast of Katie Miller (aka Mrs. Stephen Miller) is also a flop.
Recall that Miller has worked in various positions, for various Republicans, over the last decade or so. She moved to the periphery of the Trump inner circle when she took on a post in Mike Pence's office during Trump v1.0. She moved a few steps closer to the center of the circle when she married her husband. After the 1/6 insurrection, the notoriously chameleon-like Miller quickly figured out which side her bread was buttered on, and sided with Trump over Pence. That said, while Trump was in the wilderness, she was busy working for the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). This is a person who knows that it's pretty easy to have options, particularly if you have no scruples.
At the start of Trump v2.0, Miller was working closely with Elon Musk as part of DOGE. After that whole mess fell apart, she left the administration, theoretically to join Musk's payroll. That didn't happen, and so she made the unique and not-at-all-cliché decision to launch a podcast. By virtue of her close connections to the White House, she's been able to get pretty much any guest she wants, including Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), J.D. Vance, her former sorta-boss Musk, and a host of others (though not Trump himself yet). The general idea is that she would help with MAGA branding, putting a kinder, gentler face on the movement. The problem is, it's not working.
There are, fundamentally, two problems with the project. The first is that Miller may be clever, and she may be ambitious, and she may be well-connected, but she's also boring. The folks who are good interviewers, like Stephen Colbert or David Letterman or Oprah Winfrey, make it look easy. It is not. The reason they can make it look easy is that they have a lot of talent, and they have a lot of experience. Miller has neither of these things, and often contents herself to ask insipid questions like "What three people, living or dead, would you invite to dinner?" or "Why are cheeseburgers so awesome?"
The second problem is that there's no real market gap for Miller to fill. The sizable majority of people who are MAGA and listen to podcasts are young men, and they most certainly do not want "kinder" or "gentler." They want "tough" and "manly" and they almost certainly want it coming from a man. Meanwhile, the women who might plausibly be in Miller's demo already have plenty of podcasts to choose from, and they are created by people who are considerably more genuine and more talented than Miller is.
And so, outside of the Musk episode—which drew a bunch of Musk cultists—Miller rarely attracts an audience of more than 10,000 people or so. That is not very good for someone who has gotten this much PR, and who has the kind of guest list she has. Meanwhile, it's a reminder that the only person who is actually good at MAGA branding is Trump himself. That movement is going to be in for some rough times once he exits, stage right. (Z)